Dwight W. Andrus Ins., Inc. v. Abellor Corp.
| Decision Date | 05 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-869,KATC-TV,85-869 |
| Citation | 482 So.2d 1092 |
| Parties | DWIGHT W. ANDRUS INSURANCE, INC., et al, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. The ABELLOR CORPORATION, d/b/a3, Defendant-Relator. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Voorhies & Labbe, W. Gerald Gaudet, Lafayette, for defendant-relator.
Davidson, Meaux, Sonnier & McElligott, V. Farley Sonnier, Lafayette, for plaintiffs-respondents.
Before FORET, YELVERTON and KING, JJ.
This is a defamation suit. Plaintiff, Dwight W. Andrus Insurance, Inc., filed suit against defendant, The Abellor Corporation, seeking damages for an allegedly defamatory telecast. Plaintiff's petition was amended to add as plaintiffs the two owners of Dwight W. Andrus Insurance, Inc., Dwight W. Andrus and Dwight W. Andrus, Jr. Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment and plaintiff filed one for partial summary judgment. The trial court denied both motions. Defendant applied to this Court for supervisory writs, and we granted them to determine if the trial court should have granted defendant's motion for summary judgment.
Plaintiff, Dwight W. Andrus Insurance, Inc. (Andrus), is a local, family-owned (father and son) insurance agency doing business in Lafayette.
A lawsuit filed on February 23, 1984 named Andrus as a defendant. Andrus was one of seven defendants named in the lawsuit which was brought by The Louisiana Oilfield Contractors Association, an association made up primarily of companies based in or operating in the Lafayette area, and by a trust set up by the association. The suit was styled "The Louisiana Oilfield Contractors Association, Inc. and The Louisiana Oilfield Contractors Association, Inc. Employee Benefit Trust v. International Surplus Lines Insurance Company, et al." The petition alleged that Andrus was the major party responsible for establishing a group health program for plaintiff, The Louisiana Oilfield Contractors Association, Inc. It averred that there were deficiencies in the group health plan and alleged that one or more defendants named in the lawsuit had caused certain documents to be forged or fraudulently prepared.
Several television broadcasts aired by defendant, the Abellor Corporation, on or about February 27, 1984, concerned the recently filed lawsuit. These broadcasts were couched in the same general terms as the lawsuit. Graphics on the telecasts announced the lawsuit as: "Louisiana Oilfield Contractors v. Dwight Andrus Insurance, International Surplus Lines, Income Securities Corporation." In one telecast, typical of all the telecasts reporting on the lawsuit, the reporter, Dorothy Harrington, said:
In cases affecting the exercise of First Amendment liberties, proper summary judgment practice is essential. Summary judgment adjudication is a tool for avoiding the unnecessary harassment of defendants by unmeritorius actions which threaten the free exercise of the rights of speech "in" or "by" the press. Mashburn v. Collin, 355 So.2d 879 (La.1977). For these reasons, the plaintiff in a defamation action who opposes summary judgment bears a burden of proof which is more onerous than usual. Among other things, the plaintiff-opponent must show that he can produce sufficient evidence at trial to prove with convincing clarity that the statements made were false. Cavalier v. Houma Courier Newspaper, 472 So.2d 274 (La.App. 1 Cir.1985). We find that Andrus has failed to make the necessary showing and that the trial court should have granted defendant's motion for summary judgment.
Andrus has strenuously contended that it was not a public figure for the purposes of this action. However, plaintiff's status in this regard is not crucial for our determination. Undeniably, the suit against Andrus and the other defendants was a matter of public interest. The Louisiana Oilfield Contractors Ass'n., one of the plaintiffs in that suit, was, for the most part, made up of companies based in and operating in Lafayette. The state of the Association's health care and major medical plans was a legitimate concern of all of the employees of those companies who resided in and around Lafayette. Andrus, as an insurance company, was actively engaged in advertising and seeking commercial patronage. See Mashburn v. Collin, supra. In a defamation action in which the plaintiff seeks to hold the news media liable for the reporting of information which is legitimately a matter of public interest, the truth of the report would appear to be an absolute defense. What is more, when the matter of public interest reported involves legal and judicial proceedings and records, not every error or inaccuracy will be actionable. In such a case, an error will only give rise to liability if it is a significant variation from the truth. Bill Partin Jewelry, Inc. v. Smith, 467 So.2d 188 (La.App. 3 Cir.1985). Construing all of the evidence in favor of plaintiff-opponent, we must conclude that no reasonable trier of fact could find that the reports complained of contained errors which were significant variations of the truth.
The allegedly defamatory reports were essentially accurate and clearly not actionable. Plaintiff has complained that the graphic used in the telecast did not accurately reflect the manner in which the lawsuit was styled. This graphic presented the suit as "Louisiana Oilfield Contractors v. Dwight Andrus Insurance, International Surplus Lines, Income Securities Corporation", while the suit was actually styled "The Louisiana Oilfield Contractors Association, Inc. and The Louisiana Oilfield Contractors Association, Inc. Employee Benefit Trust v. International Surplus Lines...
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